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1 Year of Coinbase as a mission focused company

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Re: 1 Year of Coinbase as a mission focused company

#341

Post by motoboi »

emsy wrote: post #54
chroem- wrote: post #37

The amount of frothing vitriol in this thread makes it clear that Armstrong made the correct choice. Public discourse in the Bay Area has become completely toxic.

Not only that, but you can see why places like Twitter need 4 years to change a font. It looks like tech in general is undermined by highly unprofessional people and this whole thread is a testament to that.

People have no idea how social networks really work. And what makes a successful one.

Maybe it’s the font, we just don’t now. Maybe one more character can totally kill Twitter.

Better keep the changes to a minimum until you figure out what to do.

Re: 1 Year of Coinbase as a mission focused company

#342

Post by remarkEon »

poszlem wrote: post #325
civilized wrote: post #311

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Basecamp's angry worker faction was demanding the company apologize for contributing to a white supremacist, genocidal culture... because some customer service folks had a funny customer name list that included names from all backgrounds. That had absolutely nothing to do with basic dignity for marginalized groups. It was simply a grab for power and status. One of many. We who have been watching are very familiar wit…

Unfortunately it's a discussion tactic: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Motte-and-bailey_fallacy The motte-and-bailey fallacy (named after the motte-and-bailey castle) is a form of argument and an informal fallacy where an arguer conflates two positions that share similarities, one modest and easy to defend (the "motte") and one much more controversial (the "bailey").[1] The arguer advances the controversial position,…

The other I've seen deployed more and more often is the Kafka Trap, and with increasing degrees of complexity.

Re: 1 Year of Coinbase as a mission focused company

#343

Post by Jensson »

SamoyedFurFluff wrote: post #334
Jensson wrote: post #329

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Lets say that coinbase said "We are fully political at work, we expect all of you to have conservative views!". Would that make you happier than their current apolitical stance?

I think this is a straw man that doesn’t actually address my question. What do you do in an apolitical workplace and you’re going to engage in controversial medical intervention to align your body with your believed gender?

> What do you do in an apolitical workplace and you’re going to engage in controversial medical intervention to align your body with your believed gender?

You just do it? In an apolitical workspace that isn't a political act, what you do in your free time is up to you. And if you change your legal name people should update how they call you. Nothing of that is political. If people make a fuzz they are dragging politics in the workspace and should be reprimanded.

> I think this is a straw man that doesn’t actually address my question.

It isn't a strawman, I am just explaining how politics at work wouldn't solve your problem. However an apolitical workspace actually would solve your problem since it bars conservative politics as well.

Re: 1 Year of Coinbase as a mission focused company

#344

Post by sg47 »

readme wrote: post #310
Jensson wrote: post #279

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You are free to work at companies where you can impose your political views on those arounds you. However people who don't want to work with you are free to go work for companies that doesn't let people like you do that, like Coinbase.

spot on imagine a world where a company can just be a company it would be like a safe space for businesses

[flagged]

Re: 1 Year of Coinbase as a mission focused company

#345

Post by SamoyedFurFluff »

Jensson wrote: post #335
SamoyedFurFluff wrote: post #326

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That doesn’t answer my question of what happens if someone transitions in a workplace. How do you do that non-politically? Dismissing the edge cases of marginalized people is kind of like… of course they’re edge cases. Marginalized people are edge cases by definition.

> That doesn’t answer my question of what happens if someone transitions in a workplace. How do you do that non-politically? It is simple, you transition, you tell people you want to go by the other name now. If people say it wrong you remind them but don't get angry. If they harass it for it there are laws against harassment, bringing up harassment isn't political. You can discuss the medical benefits with your mana…

What do you do if your peer reports you as political because asking people to go by your new name is a political demand? I’m genuinely asking, because I’m under the impression that even asking people to respect your pronouns can be too political, or trying to use a bathroom you think matches your gender.

Re: 1 Year of Coinbase as a mission focused company

#346

Post by Zababa »

ctur wrote: post #56

I wrote this in an email turning down a chance explore opportunities at Coinbase. > To me, diversity and social justice are critically important. I have the luxury of being selective in where I put my time and energy and it is important those values align with my career. I appreciate aspects of being "mission focused" but I think that there is a gulf between my personal values and Coinbase's values such that I would…

I think that's the system working as intended. Coinbase decided to focus on consensus rather than pure raw technical competence (which is also what companies do when they try to meet diversity quota). You don't agree with their consensus, so you explain them so they have data and a chance to reconsider, and you can go in a company that aligns more with your values. While I don't doubt at all your technical competence, I doubt your are irreplacable (I'm not irreplacable too, and most people are not of course, this is not "against" you), so that's just the market doing its thing.

I have a biais for people that are honest about their values, so I'm glad about their move, but I understand not everyone shares my biais.

Re: 1 Year of Coinbase as a mission focused company

#347

Post by oh_sigh »

ABeeSea wrote: post #161
emsy wrote: post #95

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I will think about it the next time I buy an old lawnmower on craigslist.

I hope you properly paid sales tax on that purchase, if required, as the political system in many US states requires you to.

That's the legal system not the political system.

Re: 1 Year of Coinbase as a mission focused company

#348

Post by Zababa »

philosopher1234 wrote: post #284
jamiequint wrote: post #93

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sounds like their policy of discouraging wokes, who want to use their job as a cudgel for their own political views, from applying to their company is working.

What do you know about OP? What if OP is an extremely productive programmer who lives to build product and has a huge impact, but also cares about black people or LGBTQ+ people? So he's worthless to coinbase? Thats insane.

> What if OP is an extremely productive programmer who lives to build product and has a huge impact, but also cares about black people or LGBTQ+ people?

Then they are not compatible with Coinbase's culture, and Coinbase seem to place more important on cultural fit than on raw ability. It's nothing new, really. How do you think an interview at one of the big FAANG goes if you show some controversial opinions? You're rejected for lack of cultural fit. Coinbase's difference isn't in their practice, but in the values that they focus on.

Re: 1 Year of Coinbase as a mission focused company

#349

Post by jollybean »

ctur wrote: post #56

I wrote this in an email turning down a chance explore opportunities at Coinbase. > To me, diversity and social justice are critically important. I have the luxury of being selective in where I put my time and energy and it is important those values align with my career. I appreciate aspects of being "mission focused" but I think that there is a gulf between my personal values and Coinbase's values such that I would…

That's your choice, but I think the ratio is maybe 4 to 1 the opposite way, with most people somewhere in between, leaning a bit towards the Coinbase side.

I think most of us want to see people treated very fairly, but that it's not any one group's job to distort their situation so much as to hire people on the basis of race or gender or to worry about it that-that much.

The first time you hire A over B due to a very obvious ideological reason, and you come face to face with the plight of the bloke you didn't hire ... it becomes more visceral.

I think we can be pretty good citizens, and maybe even say a few words of empathetic to BIPOC etc (which I think Coinbase should have done) - but without going full woke.

I think that's what most people probably prefer.

I don't think there are really that many truly racist places in tech (most wouldn't want that of course), but I think most people also don't actually want to work in a 'fully woke' environment if they really had the choice. Definitely some. But a minority.

Re: 1 Year of Coinbase as a mission focused company

#350

Post by Jensson »

SamoyedFurFluff wrote: post #345
Jensson wrote: post #335

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> That doesn’t answer my question of what happens if someone transitions in a workplace. How do you do that non-politically? It is simple, you transition, you tell people you want to go by the other name now. If people say it wrong you remind them but don't get angry. If they harass it for it there are laws against harassment, bringing up harassment isn't political. You can discuss the medical benefits with your mana…

What do you do if your peer reports you as political because asking people to go by your new name is a political demand? I’m genuinely asking, because I’m under the impression that even asking people to respect your pronouns can be too political, or trying to use a bathroom you think matches your gender.

If you legally changed your name then it isn't an political act.

> I’m genuinely asking, because I’m under the impression that even asking people to respect your pronouns can be too political

That is just your assumption here. Why are you assuming that? It is almost as if you assume "apolitical" means "conservative". That isn't true, even if the left tries to tell you that all "apolitical" people are really closet conservatives that isn't really the case.

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